Must an essay length be exact?

[galindollie]

If the rules say the essay should be 250-words do you think they disqualify you if your essay is say 290 words? I am just wondering if the sponsors think one entrant could be getting an unfair advantage if they write more or is it more likely that f they don't bother counting words as long as you are in the ball park. Any thoughts?

[gcomstock]

Short answer: yes, it must be no more words than specified.

...don't know how often they enforce that, but I always assume it's a firm rule.

PS- it helps to draft such essays in Word (or other word processing software), so you can obtain a word count automatically. Other than the inconvenience of counting words...the "exercise" of conforming to a set word length is good for your writing.

Blah, blah, blah, etc. LOL.

[gabyzee]

Hey gcomstock - We're sorry, but your last "blah" put you over the word limit for our essay contest - we're going to have to disqualify you! :laugh:

Actually, I totally agree with your opinion. I always use Microsoft word when writing an essay. It's got the word count function built right in.

What I DIDN'T know until today is that is also has a character count function (with AND without spaces). Boy I could have really used that with all the 1800 Flowers entries I sent in!!!!!:mad3:

What a dope I am!:rolleyes:

[galindollie]

For the input. I will be using my word count. :)